


Mortui Vivos Docent

by Garish_Flower



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Police, Blood, Deaf Character, Disabled Character, Eventual Smut, F/M, Graphic Description, Mystery, Slow Burn, alternate universe - cop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-06-01 13:45:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15144383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Garish_Flower/pseuds/Garish_Flower
Summary: Dr. Florence Solomon has just started at the NYPD as a medical examiner when she meets the Captain of the homicide department and realizes that the police department may have more secrets than she knows about.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, I seriously can’t begin to explain how excited I am to be writing this fic. I have always wanted to do a Deaf!OC and NOW I AM DOING IT!! I have really big and exciting plans for this fic. I’ll probably end up updating once a week when I update my Bucky fic. I am also going to start on another Collage!AU Bucky story and another Peter Parker story anyhow here is my first chapter. This series is probably going to span around 4 ish chapters and it’s going to be JUICY so stay tuned.

 

“She’s never going to make it.” a light-haired woman said talking to her friend sitting across from her, “No one is going to want to hire someone who can’t hear.”

Florence sat at the table adjacent to the group of her fellow medical college classmates; unbeknownst to them that her hearing aids were in and turned on. Florence dropped her fork on her plate and abruptly stood up from her seat and turned and made direct eye contact “I can hear you, you do know that?” Florence hissed, her hearing loss was evident in her voice despite the years of speech therapy. There was only so much specialists could correct when you couldn’t hear certain tones.

The memory played in Florence’s head as she walked gripped the cool metal handles to the doors of the New York City Police Department entrance. She smirked to herself, she proved herself to those girls and to the rest of the people in her residency when she graduated sooner than anyone else in her class did and got a job as a medical examiner for the NYPD. It also helped that her friend Clint was one of the leaders for the Sniper Unit here, that was her in if she needed to be honest.

She walked to the elevator and pressed the down button, naturally her office was in the basement like most medical examiners. Florence looked around taking in her surroundings, the footsteps against the cool marble and the chatter amongst officers and other police officials. A hand tapped her shoulder, she jumped “The elevator is here.”

She turned and was greeted by Clint’s smiling face, “Sorry, I didn’t hear the ding.” She said flushing a light shade of pink.

Clint grinned “I know,” He joked. “I’m going to show you to your workspace.” He said Florence was thankful that he also signed while he was speaking, just in case she missed his words.

They got to the basement, it was cold and dimly lit by fluorescent lights. Clint led her down the hallway into the examining room, a dark-haired man greeted her with a stern face “Strange, this is Florence Solomon, she is the new medical examiner.” He said and nudged her.

“Doctor Stephen Strange.” He greeted and sized her up and down “Doctor Solomon, right?” He asked questioning her whether or not she had the qualifications.

Florence cleared her throat “Yes,” she started, but was interrupted.

“You’re awfully young for your M.D.” He pointed out.

Florence shrugged her shoulders “I graduated early from medical school.” She boasted, of course, if she could brag to someone it would be Dr. Strange.

He pursed his lips impressed, “Well, I’ll be your boss seeing as I am the chief medical examiner for the department.” He flashed her a quick smile.

Clint patted Florence’s shoulder “I’ll see you for lunch.” He said smiling and leaving.

Florence turned towards Dr. Strange and shifted her weight, “What do you specialize in?” he asked curiously while moving about the examination room.

“Mostly drowning victims or burn victims.” She began to explain, “I worked a lot with Dr. Wong in advance stage decomposition with drowning victims for my medical school research.”

Stephen’s glanced up at her “Dr. Wong, is a great friend of mine.” He said impressed to hear the connection between the two of them, “Come, we have a fresh one.” He said and walking towards one of the drawers and opening a slab revealing a body underneath a crisp white sheet. He pulled back the sheet and revealed a bloated and discolored face that had chunks taken out, most likely from fish.

Quickly Florence slapped on some gloves and smiled lightly to herself, this was her element. She pulled eyelids back and shined a light into the eyes, they were gelatinous and the capillaries were broken causing the whites to become a deep red color. The skin around the victim’s face and the rest of their body was waxy looking and pieces were flaking off. Most would be sick to their stomach, but the process of death and decomposition always fascinated Florence. She didn’t need to have perfect hearing to learn the stories that the victims’ bodies told after they were unable to talk.

She moved around the body observing the face first, she noticed the frothy foam around the mouth and nose and began to furiously write notes. She pulled the sheet back more revealing the chest and looked over at Dr. Strange. “Do we…” She was hesitant “Can we cut him open?” She asked. Truthfully, she needed to look at the lungs to identify if the drowning was a fresh or saltwater drowning.

There was a small sparkle in Dr. Strange’s eyes, “Of course,” He said gruffly and moved the metal rolling cart closer to the drain.

-

Before Florence knew it, it was time for her lunch break; she quickly scrubbed her arms and hands to clear it from any blood of body matter she might have gotten on her from the autopsy.  She turned towards Dr. Strange who dismissed her with a wave “I want you back in exactly one hour, Dr. Solomon,” He said, “We need to have a COD by tonight.”

Florence quickly grabbed her lunch and met Clint in the cafeteria for lunch. “How is Dr. Strange?” Clint asked hesitantly “He can be a bit… you know.” Clint asked and made a face.

Florence laughed and shrugged her shoulders and began to rapidly sign to Clint, “He has me working on an autopsy!” She exclaimed her gestures getting bigger from excitement.

Clint grinned and high fived her “Wow, really?” he asked, “The last few medical examiners have left crying on their first day.” A few other people joined them at their cafeteria table.

A man with dark hair, in a lab coat who she learned to be Dr. Bruce banner who worked with pathology. A woman with short red hair who was Natasha Romanoff, the head of the SWAT team. Florence greeted them all warmly

“You lasted until lunch and you’re going back?” Nat asked shocked at Florence’s excitement with her new job.

Florence shrugged “I mean,” She paused for a second, “Yeah. I don’t mind Dr. Strange he’s strict, but you need to be used to that in this field.” She quickly finished the rest of her lunch before ruffling Clint’s hair “I got to get back to the lab.” She smiled and quickly ran back.

When she arrived Dr. Strange was looking over her notes, he glanced up and stared a hole in her “These are your autopsy notes from the victim we were working on earlier?” He asked.

Florence swallowed thickly, “Yes, is there something wrong with them?”  She straightened her posture and watched as Strange’s eyes narrowed down at her.

He shook his head “No, there isn’t.” He said, he sounded shocked “I can tell Wong taught you well.” He said and set the notepad on the table while Florence quickly got suited up in her examining gear.

She turned back to the body and she flipped the body to look underneath it and at the back. Noticing bruising in the back side of the neck and started to take various pictures. She jumped when feeling a hand touching her shoulder and turned around, with her mouth hanging agape.

A tall handsome man stood in front of her, to say he was built like a truck was an understatement, and next to him was a darker haired man with the most dazzling blue eyes she had ever seen. Staring wide eyes at them “Sorry,” She said softly and brushed her hair out of her face “I…” She frowned “I couldn’t hear you. How long have you been here for?” She asked.

The tall man’s stern expression softened “You must be the new ME.” He said, “Captain Steve Rogers.” He greeted warmly and stuck his hand out for her to shake. She gave it a surprisingly firm grasp and shook it “This is my partner, Sargent James Barnes.” 

Florence nodded her head in acknowledgment to Sargent Barnes, “Doctor Florence Solomon,” She smiled lightly and looked over her shoulder “Is that what you’re here for?” She asked.

“Yes, do you have any updates?” Steve asked. 

Florence turned on her heel motioned for the two men to come over “Yes actually I do.” She said and pointed to the bruise on the neck “Bruising shows that it happened before death,” She said and removed the tape measure “11.43 centimeters or 4.5 inches.” She said and looked up from her position “It’s the slightly larger than the average length of a human hand.” She added and watched as Steve quickly jotted down notes into his notebook “I still need to open it up to see the bone, you can x-ray it, but nothing tells the story better than the bones itself.” She said smiling softly.

Steve nodded his head in agreement, But Florence frowned, they probably thought she was weird. She moved to open the back of the victim’s neck careful to not break the fragile bones that had been broken down from being waterlogged. However, even with the water decomposition, she was still able to see the tiny hairline fractures at the base of the skull. She quickly took pictures careful to zoom in at the perfect angles and walked over to Steve and James. She held the screen up for them to see “Here you can see there that there are several hairline fractures.” She pointed at James “If I may?” She asked.

Steve smirked in amusement and motioned for James to head over “Go on Buck,” Steve said grinning.

James rolled his eyes and walked over. Florence grabbed the back of James’ neck and pushed him down so he was bent over, “The victim was most likely held down like this underneath the water.” She said, “With enough struggling and pressure you can break the vertebrae in the neck.” She said and let go of James.

He quickly stood up and brushed his uniform off, Steve gave Florence an impressed look, “I think we may have COD.” He said.

Florence stopped him “We might, but I’m sending over the contents of the lungs for Dr. Banner to give us a timeline of death. It’s almost impossible to tell with water decomposed bodies.” She said sighing, “We should have it by tomorrow morning.”

Steve nodded his head and glanced over to the door as Dr. Strange walked through “Dr. Strange,” He greeted softly, “You’re new ME is doing excellent work.”

Strange frowned at Steve “I know.” He said, straight and to the point, just how he liked to say things. He walked over and looked through Florence’s notes, “Very nice Solomon.” He said not looking up from the notes and heading over to the body glancing over its back. “You can leave now Captain Rogers. We really don’t need you lingering around cluttering our work space.” He said and made a shooing motion with his hands urging the two to leave, which they did. 

The remainder of Florence’s first day of work was mostly paper work, she typed furiously away at the computer trying to finish her report for the court trial, Dr. Strange was going to look over it of course before it was sent over; he just wanted to see how well she could type one after studying with his dear friend. When she finished it, it was well past her time to clock out; 8 pm. She glanced at the clock and sighed out of exhaustion and made a note for Dr. Strange to look over it in the morning.

-

The next morning Florence walked through the main entrance, there were much more people there than there was before. She scanned the crowd and saw a familiar face, Clint, from across the room she waved to get his attention. “What’s happening?” She signed.

Clint simple put his arms up and shrugged, he didn’t know. She walked over to regroup with her friend and looked through the crowd and saw what all the commotion was about, Mayor Stark was visiting “What the hell is he doing here?” She heard a deep voice from behind her, turned, and saw it was James and Steve.

Florence looked at Steve who had his arms crossed over his chest defensively and kept his eyes on the Mayor. Clint shrugged his shoulders and looked at James “You know how Stark gets, he’s got to make appearances to show that he cares about the people’s safety.”

Bucky hummed in agreement and Steve frowned deeply “No, he’s here for our case.” He said and pushed through the crowd of people.

“Steve,” James called after him and followed being swallowed by the crowd.

“What do you mean you’re handing our case over!” Florence heard Steve’s voice clearly over the chattering of the crowd, which meant he was loud.

The crowd surrounding Mayor Stark and Captain Rogers parted like the red sea when Director Fury and Deputy Director Coulson came out “Don’t you all have work you need to be doing?” Fury said watching everyone surrounding Stark and Steve scatter like roaches in sunlight. “Captain Rogers,” Fury started.

Steve frowned “Don’t Captain Rogers me, what do you mean we have to hand the case over?” He asked holding his arms up.

Florence and Clint stood in the background, since Florence was also on the case she felt like she could listen, but Clint was just being nosey. “Cap, you and I both know this case is getting bigger than the both of us; we need to hand it over to the FBI before it gets out of hand.” Fury was hushed, but the echo in the room carried over.

Florence looked over her shoulder and saw Dr. Strange walking towards the two of them, He put his hand on her shoulder, “Come on, you don’t need to get wrapped up in these politics so soon.” He said and steered her towards the elevator to get to work.

Once they entered the ME room Florence sat in one of the rolling stools “What was all that about?” She asked.

Dr. Strange glanced over at Florence from his desk, “Mayor Stark came to inform Director Fury that Barnes and Rogers are no longer on the case because it’s being handed over to the FBI.” The answer left Florence with more questions than answers.

“What does that mean for us?” She asked motioning to her paperwork and notes.

Strange sighed and leaned back in his chair “We hand it over and the FBI’s medical examiner takes all of our credit, unfortunately that happens a lot here.” He sounded bitter, “Come on now, I wrote notes on your case report for you to edit. When you’re finished I want you to take it upstairs to Director Fury”

Florence swallowed thickly, she was nervous. She quickly scanned over the various critiques in her write up and changed them. Dr. Strange looked them over and nodded his head “Very good, now take them upstairs.”

Quickly walking to the elevator and taking it to the 4th floor where Fury’s office was located. She looked around and saw desks and papers piled as high as one could imagine, people were on the phone and had detainees handcuffed and sitting in chairs next to their desks and lawyers and cops alike spoke in loud volumes. She was distracted by the commotion as it overwhelmed her senses. Her hearing aids started ringing from all the noises and she winced and covered them “Shit,” she hissed and turned them down to an appropriate volume.

Florence continue walking meandering through the various people when she bumped into a young dark-haired boy and spilt coffee all over the two of them “I’m so sorry.” He said and frantically handed her napkins 

She shook her head and began to blot herself off “It’s fine, I have spare scrubs in my locker.” She said and smiled lightly. “Florence Solomon,” She introduced

“Peter Parker.” He grinned “I’m Mayor Starks college intern.” He sounded so proud of his position. She could tell that Peter was young, maybe in his first year or two at university.

“It’s nice to meet you Peter, do you know where Director Fury’s office is?” She asked.

Peter nodded his head “Yeah I’m headed there right now actually.” He started walking away “Come on,” He said turning his head.

Florence didn’t register his words, but followed him in the direction he was walking. The glass windows showed Director Fury and Deputy Director Coulson as well as Steve and James were talking with Mr. Stark, it looked heated. Peter knocked and patiently waited to go in despite the group being able to see him. Fury pinched the bridge of his nose “Come in, Parker.” He said sighing.

  “Director Fury, I have the autopsy report that Dr. Strange wanted me to give to you.”  She said and set the papers down on the desk.

“Thank you, Dr. Solomon.” He said and nodded towards Florence.

Mayor Stark looked over and rubbed his goatee, Florence shifted uncomfortably under his gaze “You’re the new ME?” He asked, he was projecting louder.

Florence frowned, people always shouted at her so she could hear better, Florence straightened her posture and let out a long sigh “With all due respect Mayor Stark,” She began “no matter how loudly you talk to me, it won’t change the fact that I need a hearing aid to hear you.” The room was silent. She gave Stark a small smile before turning back towards Fury, who was trying not to laugh, “I will be back in the basement if you have any questions on the report.” She said and walked out the door.

Tony let out a puff of air that he had been holding in and pointed at the door that was shutting “I like her,” He grinned, “No wonder Stephen was so impressed when he told me about her.”

Florence quickly made her way to the ME room and frowned, “Dr. Strange?” She asked

Strange looked up from his computer “Yes?”

“Do we ever go out into the field and look at stuff?” She asked, she was hoping that staying cooped up in this cold room for her entirety of her career.

Strange shook his head “No, actually we get called out on cases quite often.” He flipped through different files “Sometimes it is best seeing the body in the environment it decomposes in. It helps establish the surroundings and how they may have effected it.”

Florence nodded her head in agreement and her stomach growled. She covered it in embarrassment feeling the rumbling, “Sorry,” she flushed “I didn’t realize how close it was to lunch time.” She looked over at the clock and noticed it was actually past her lunch hour.

-

She glanced around the cafeteria to see if she recognized anyone. She only saw Steve and James, sighing she walked over and sat down at their table. James pointed at her with his fork “You made Stark’s jaw hit the fucking ground earlier.” He said with a ghost of a smile playing on his lips.

Florence’s face flushed as she unpacked her lunch “Yeah,” She let out a soft laugh “I did.” She shifted in her seat and dug into her lunch “I really hate it when people do that though, they don’t realize that it’s not going to make me hear the many better.”

Steve nodded his head, he appreciated that she was open and willing to talk about her disability like that. But he could also sense that she didn’t like talking very much about it. “Doctor, right?” He asked. “Is that a PhD or an MD?”

“It’s an MD.” She looked down at her food, “It’s funny how you need a medical degree to work with dead people.” James and Steve laughed at Florence’s joke. “What type of policing do the two of you do?” She was curious about their lives.

James leaned back comfortably in his chair “We do mostly homicide work.” He said and looked over at Steve who nodded in agreement and smiled, flashing his perfect teeth.

She rocked back in her seat “Do you know why Stark and Fury handed the case over?” Florence pressed.

Steve shrugged his shoulders “No clue,” he sighed in frustration, “Fury said we don’t need to worry about it.”

Florence saw over James’ shoulder that Peter was nervously walking towards them “Can I sit here?” He asked while sitting next to Florence.

She smiled at Peter’s nervous demeanor, “So Peter,” Florence knew if she pushed him enough she could get the information she wanted out of him “Why did the FBI come to take the case over?” She was blunt

Peter stumbled over his words “Well, I-I really can’t talk about it.”

James and Steve eyed her up as she continued to press into him “I know, but I was just wondering because these Federal people are coming in and taking credit for all of our work.” She motioned to the two police officers sitting across from her, “I know these two guys spent a lot of work investigating, and I spent a lot of work too.” She tilted her head and smiled at Peter “Come on, I know you don’t want all our hard work going to waste.”

Peter nodded his head and his breathing quickened, “Okay,” He broke and ran a hand through his gelled hair, “I don’t exactly know, but Mr. Stark said something about it being connected to something bigger than just the one body found in the river.”  Bam. Hook, line, and sinker.

Florence patted Peter on the shoulders and smiled when his face flushed “Thanks dear,” She said and turned towards James and Steve who were listening intently “I’m thinking they took it away because it’s a serial case, you know, high profile suspect stuff?”

Steve nodded his head in agreement “You know, this makes sense, Fury did say it was bigger that what we could handle.” He looked over at James, “We should head to the tech department after work and see if they can cross reference this case with any other similar cases.” He looked at Florence, “Do you want to come? You know the cause of death and more nitty gritty details of the case.”

Florence knew it was bad that she as prying so much, she could get reprimanded by her department and fired if caught. But, something told her it was the right thing to do. She nodded her head “Yeah. I’ll go.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, I hope you all enjoyed my first chapter. I’m sorry it’s taking me forever to update but I have been working on this chapter for HOURS because of all of the research I need to do. So I hope it’s good. I hope you enjoy my little cameos of the Marvel characters because I like including them, if you have any other ideas on other people I can write in let me know!

The day came and went without any more major events, Florence had met Steve, Bucky, and Clint at the elevator on the ground floor “So who is in charge of tech stuff?” Florence asked curiously.

Clint looked down at his friend and had his trademark smirk plastered on his face “Oh, you’ll see” he said smiling.

Florence bit her lip and nervously waited for the elevator to creep up 6 floors. The department was located at the top of the building. It was dark and dimly lit by the glow of several computers. “Come on,” Steve said and waved the group over to a side room. He knocked loudly on the door before he opened it. Sitting at two computers were two young college age kids, probably around the same age as Peter.

The girl turned around, she had lovely black braids that fell down her back and white African tribal paint on her face and her eyes sparkles with curiosity the boy a little shorter, chubby and with black hair also had the same curious look in his eyes “Ned, Shuri, can you do a favor for us?” Steve asked.

Shuri grinned, “That depends, who’s your friend there?” She asked she had an African accent, nodding her head towards Florence

“Oh, this is Dr. Florence Solomon; she works with Dr. Strange.” Steve introduced her to the kiddos.

Ned turned around in his rolling chair “So you look at dead bodies all day?” He asked Florence opened her mouth to answer but was immediately cut off “Do they do that thing where they sit up because of some of their muscles spasm? Oh, or do they really make that groaning noise when gasses get released from their bodies? What about-“

“Come on Ned, you’re going to talk the poor girls ear off.” Shuri jokingly swatted his shoulder, “What do you need, Stevie?” she pressed.

Steve let out a sigh as Bucky stifled his laughter at the childhood nickname Shuri used on his friend “We need to cross-reference this case with past cases to see if there are any similarities.” He said and threw the crime report and autopsy file onto her desk.

“Woah gross, his skin looks like its falling off,” Ned said while looking through the files.

Florence cleared her throat “That’s because it was.” She shifted uncomfortably, seeing dead bodies didn’t shock her anymore.

She listened to Ned and Shuri’s typing away at the computers as they worked their investigation magic “Are we supposed to be doing this?” Ned asked.

Shuri glanced over at her coworker “I don’t ask questions like that,” She smirked at her computer as several filed and suspects popped up on her screen “Usually when Stevie or Barton need favors it means we aren’t.”

Ned shrugged his shoulders “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” His computer flashed several files on it.

“How old are you two?” Florence asked curiously.

They continued to type away “Ned’s 18, I’m 19.” Shuri said and turned in her chair towards the group of people behind her “Here,” She said and motioned to her and Ned’s screens.

The group huddled around the kids’ computers and saw that there were seven cases that spanned throughout New York state, “These are the suspects.” Ned said and moved away from his screen.

Steve looked at the names that flashed on the computer “Senator Stern, Alexander Pierce, Brock Rumlow?”

High profile was an understatement.

“Jesus, no wonder why Stark called the FBI in and had the case taken from us,” Clint said and scratched his chin.

Florence scrunched her nose up “I know Stern, but who is everyone else?” She asked.

Bucky cocked his head, “Pierce is the head of security for the entire state of New York and Rumlow is a detective on the force and practically riding Pierce’s dick for a promotion.”

Florence nodded her head and sighed, for some reason, she felt like they knew too much “Shuri, Ned you two have to make sure no one knows that we came here, okay?” She asked and ran a hand through her hair nervously, these were men that shouldn’t be messed with.

Steve put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze, “Don’t worry, no one will find out.” He said and handed Shuri and Ned each two crisp one-hundred-dollar bills before the group left.

“Jesus, what kind of place did I start working for?” Florence asked leaning back on the crisp metal of the elevator doors.

Clint sighed and looked over at his friend who looked like she was having an existential crisis “Come on Flo, it’ll be fine, you just need to live a little on the edge and the guild of bribing two college students for information will go away.” Bucky and Steve nodded their heads in agreement.

Florence groaned “How the hell do you end up having two kids work in your tech department? What did they do? Hack into the government?” At this point, her arms were flailing and she was signing as she spoke in large grandiose movements.

Their silence confirmed her suspicions, but before she could open her mouth to protest anymore Clint gently grabbed her wrists and held them in front of her and grabbed her hand as they walked out of the elevator. Clint let go and started signing to her, seeing as it would be much easier given her state of panic “Florence you need to calm down,” His movements were smooth and flowed one after another “It’s going to be fine I promise, I know that others have done worse.”

Steve and Bucky watched intently at the two talking to each other not using words, it was fascinating. Florence frowned and noticed Bucky and Steve staring at her; she put her hands at her side and shifted uncomfortably “Sorry, that was rude.” She said and looked down at her shoes.

Clint frowned and opened his mouth but was cut off “Don’t apologize.” Steve took the words right out of his mouth. It wasn’t right for her to feel bad for others not knowing her main way of communication. Steve started off to his office and the group followed closely behind him. Bucky was the last one in the room and shut the door behind him “Okay, what do we do now with this information?” Steve asked sitting down at his desk.

Clint looked around the room, no one was saying it but everyone was thinking it, “We investigate ourselves because we know that FBI isn’t going to do shit if the FBI is even being handed the case by Stark.”  

“Well, I guess we're lucky the kids gave us their full file because now we have their last known address.” Bucky started, “We should go on a steak out and see what their plans our later tonight.”

Florence shook her head “Hold on, I just look at dead bodies, I’m not qualified to go on stakeouts.”

Clint shrugged his shoulders “I guess Steve can show you, right Cap?” He said and patted his friend on the shoulder “You two get the first shift.”

-

Despite Florence’s protests, where she was sitting with Steve in his dark-colored car, Clint gave her sunglasses to wear so she felt more official despite it being 8:00 pm and dark out. She nervously played with the arms of the glasses “what are we even looking for?” she asked.

Steve looked over at his friend and sipped from her thermos of black coffee “Well, we are watching Rumlow and then Clint has Pierce and Buck has Stern.” He set the cup down and frowned at the cold nipping at his hands once the warmth left, “We really just need to watch and see if they are doing anything suspicious.”

Florence shifted in her seat to get a better look “Like killing someone?” She asked bluntly.

“Yes exactly,” Steve said and nodded his head.

Rumlow lived in a small house by himself, the curtains were always drawn shut tightly and there never seemed to be any lights on as far as either of them could tell. Florence grabbed his file and looked over it. 32 years old with ten years on the force. He worked as a detective in the homicide department and under Steve and Bucky. According to Steve, Rumlow had been after his job since Steve got the promotion after he did and has essentially as Bucky put it ‘riding Pierce’s dick’ so he could put a good word into Fury for the next promotion and chance to surpass Steve and Bucky.

Steve clicked on his walkie-talkie “You guys seeing anything interesting? Over.”

Clint’s voice rang back, it was hard for Florence to hear it through the radio system. She was thankful that Steve was manning it. “What…” Florence hated asking this “What did he say?” She asked softly.

Steve looked over at the girl sitting passenger “He said nothing out of the ordinary.” Steve smiled softly. Florence couldn’t help but notice the way the corners of his eyes wrinkled and how defined his laugh lines were or the blueness of his eyes.

She cleared her throat, but her throat still sounded scratchy “Thank you.” A shroud of tension hung in the car. Florence shifted and looked out the dark tinted windows and rubbed her sleeve covered hand over the fog that started accumulating on the windows.

What the hell was this? High school?

Steve noticed the tension too, he ran a hand through his neatly kept hair and was surprised when it wasn’t put out of place at his actions. He jumped at his radio crackling “I’ve got something at Stern’s” Bucky’s voice rang through the radio.

Steve held his hand on his chest and gasped “Jesus,” He said before pressing the button the call back “What did you find Buck?” he pressed.

“Well, Rumlow is here so that’s why you aren’t seeing anything too exciting.”

“What do you mean Rumlow is over there.”

“I mean Rumlow is standing right in front of his big bay window. Which is also near a river system.”

Florence perked up at Bucky’s comment “What river?” she asked grabbing the walkie-talkie out of Steve’s hand.

“The Hudson.”

“Steve, that’s where the bodies have been found, along the Hudson.” Florence looked over at Steve who rubbed the sides of his beard with one hand and sighed.

Steve shook his head and exhaled deeply through his nose “We have to get in Stern’s house and bug it, that’s obviously their base of operations.”

“I bet they think since he’s Senator that no one will look into him,” Florence said more to herself than to Steve. Unbuckling his seatbelt, Steve reached for his door handle “Where are you going?” Florence asked.

“I have to take pictures so we can ask Nat to come and bug his phone.” Steve acted like this was normal. Florence followed him out of his car, “Come on Flo,” Her heart skipped a beat at her nickname, “You can’t be out here.” But she still followed, “Please, go back into the car I’m just taking pictures of the entrances and possible security concerns.”

Florence sighed “Okay, I’ll keep watch for you by the car then.” She said, she didn’t like being alone especially at night; she couldn’t hear if someone was going to sneak up behind her, but her eyes worked much better than her ears so that helped a little bit. Despite nothing happening, she waited intently scanning the area every few minutes to make sure Steve was going to be okay.

Steve came back and opened the door and plopped onto the seat “Okay, it’s getting late and we have work tomorrow.” He huffed “Where do you live I’ll take you home.”

Florence shook her head “No you can take me back to the station I left my car there.”

“I’ll pick you up for work too then.” Steve smiled and flashed his perfect teeth.

If she would have been standing, her knees would have been weak “Okay, I guess you can drive me.” She tried to hide her smile but failed.

Steve picked up his walkie-talkie “We’re heading home since there isn’t much else to watch; we took pictures so Nat can bug the phone once we get a routine established. Signing off.” He clicked the knob to the off position and turned his car on. Florence plugged her address into his phone and together they drove in silence.

Steve pulled into a parking spot on the street in front of her apartment and turned it off “Let me walk you to the door?” He asked politely.

Florence’s face flushed, it was dark and she hoped Steve couldn’t see it, “It’s okay I can manage.” She knew he was just being a gentleman.

“It’s going to keep me up at night if I don’t make sure you get to the door safely.” Steve smiled and opened the door, he walked around to the other side and opened her door and offered her his hand “Call me old-fashioned.” He joked.

Florence felt her heart racing she didn’t have the most experience with men. They usually caught one look at her hearing aids and ran the other direction, for some reason they thought she was broken. But Steve, he was the type of guy you took home to your family and they instantly fell in love with. An all-American guy. She didn’t know why she was so nervous, he was just walking her to the front door. She grasped his hand and admired how the callouses felt against her dry hands. He helped her out of the car door and up to her apartment door. She really hoped her nosey ass neighbors weren’t watching.

“You going to make it up the stairs alright?” Steve joked, for some reason he didn’t want to leave her.

Florence let out a soft laugh and looked up, she was dwarfed by Steve’s broad frame. “Yeah, don’t worry about me.” She said smiling and fumbling with her keys to let herself in “See you tomorrow to pick me up?” She turned and looked at Steve while holding the door ajar.

Steve nodded his head “Yeah, 7:00 AM good?” He asked. Florence wordlessly nodded her head and turned to walk away but Steve grasped her shoulder. He held his phone out in front of her; the window for a new contact was open “So I can call you when I get here.” He said.

Damn, he was smooth.

Florence punched in her number, she noticed the vibrations for his keys were turned on and smiled lightly to herself. “Night Steve.” She said and walked into the front door and up the stairs before stealing another glance at the door, she smiled when she saw Steve give her a little wave in which she returned.

-

The next morning Florence woke up bright and early so she would be on time for Steve to pick her up for work. Quickly she showered and threw on a pair a scrubs and comfortable shoes before she knew it her phone was flashing and buzzing in her pants pocket. She pulled it out and saw that Steve was trying to video call her. She was a little shocked, most hearing people tried to call her out of habit and she always needed to text them to video chat instead. She quickly fixed her wet hair and answered it “Morning!” Steve said and waved at the screen, he was obviously a morning person.

Florence yawned and smiled back on the phone “Hi Steve.” She said.

He turned the camera and she saw her front door “I’m here.” He said, but she missed it. Voices never registered nicely through the phone for her, but she got the gist.  She quickly gathered her things and headed out the door and was met by Steve holding two cups of coffee for her “I wasn’t sure how you take your coffee so I made it black.” He said and handed her the cup.

She smiled lightly “Thank you, you didn’t have to.” She said softly.

Steve shrugged his shoulders “It was the least I could do for making you get up so early.” He opened the door for her to get in before he entered in his own and they drove. She was thankful they left early because traffic was horrendous today.

“Do you think Stark is going to be there again tonight?” She asked breaking the silence.

Steve adjusted his hands on the steering wheel “I hope not.” He grumbled.

Florence smiled softly and let out a small laugh. The rest of their ride went without much talking and with a comfortable silence between them. Once they arrived they walked in together with Steve holding the door open for her “I’ll probably end up seeing you around lunch, right?” He asked curiously.  

Florence looked over from the elevator “Hm? Oh yeah, definitely I’ll be there with Clint as usual.” She pressed the button and waved bye to Steve while entering the elevator going down to the medical examiner room. “Good morning Doctor.” She said and put her things on her desk.

“Morning Solomon.” Stephen put a file on her desk “We have a new body to look at.”

“Where is it?” She asked turning in her chair not seeing a body.

Dr. Strange smiled lightly and grabbed his coat “It’s in the field.” He started to walk out the door.  Florence quickly scrambled to gather her things and followed Strange out the door and to the elevator to the parking garage. Together they piled their gear into a police car and were driven to the scene by an officer.

When they exited the car, they were met with the smoldering ruins of what used to be a home. They quickly suited up in gloves and proper protection to not contaminate the body and they walked where they were directed. Florence marveled at everyone at work, photographers, forensics, detectives, the fire department. You name it they were there. “Florence, this is the Fire Marshall, Peter Quill.” He said and introduced her to a man slightly older than her with scruff.

Peter was quick and to the point on their issue “We have a body in the bathtub, they’re too damaged to move right now. We were going to wait until you showed up to tell us what to do.” He was honest about his lack of knowledge on the situation and directed them to the bathroom.

Florence followed Dr. Strange and Quill to the bathroom. Everything was badly charred including the body. Dr. Strange shooed the forensics staff that was crowding the bathroom so that they could work. He opened his bag and pulled out various things to help him and handed Florence a clipboard and pen “This looks to be a male age 54, roughly 6 feet and 3 inches. Age unknown. No known ID, and no visible marks on the body” He crouched down while Florence furiously wrote down the information he spat at her. “Where did the fire start?” He asked not bothering to look at Quill.

“We are still investigating, I’ve got Rocket working on it,” Quill said.

Strange rolled his eyes “We’re never going to get the information then.” He muttered to himself, “Since John Doe is laying in the tub and the bottom isn’t terribly damaged, we should be able to get some clear skin on his back.” His co-worker made note of that in her notes.

Steve and Bucky walked into the bathroom and Steve scrunched his nose at the dead body in the corner. “Quill.” Steve greeted. They weren’t terribly fond of the departments mixing.

“Rogers.” Quill greeted and crossed his arms over his chest.

“We had Ned and Shuri pull up the house information, it looks like a man named Jerry Norton has this place in his name.” Bucky said pulling up the information that they had sent him, “Looks to be around the same age and height.”

Strange glanced up at Sargent Barnes “Can you pull the dental records and any records on identifiable marks he may have had so we can check it over?” He asked and looked at Steve “We need to get this body out of here; suit up and move it to a bag.” He said and stood up from his position on the ground. He brushed his pants off to clear them of the ash that collected on them. “Florence, you too. Help them.”

She glanced over at Steve and Bucky and gave them both a sympathetic smile before leaving to get a body bag. When she returned she directed Steve and Buck on how to properly pick up the body and avoid the skin falling off “The skin might fall off?” Bucky asked trying to clarify what he heard. He was hoping she was joking.

Florence shrugged her shoulders “Yeah it’ll just slide right off if you’re not careful.” She warned; she was very serious showing to Bucky that the skin falling off was a very real issue.

After carefully moving the body into the body bag, Florence and Strange helped load it into an ambulance and rode in it the rest of the way back to the precinct for the remainder of the examination.    


	3. Chapter 3

The autopsy for the John Doe was straight and to the point, the very obvious charring and burns in the victim’s throat showed that he was still alive at the time of the fire and the state of his lungs and oxygen content of his blood showed that he died of smoke inhalation. That was all Florence and Strange needed to bother knowing for the case and Steve and James would handle the rest during their investigation; much unlike the drowning case that she was now neck deep into.

“I want you to have the autopsy report filled out and on my desk before the end of the day.” Dr. Strange said while packing up and leaving early. It wasn’t even lunchtime yet.

Florence merely nodded her head, his reason for leaving early wasn’t any of her concern; what her boss did was none of her business. Once Strange was out of the field of view she took the liberty to start her lunch break early.  She looked down at her phone, not even noticing the flashes it had been giving off since she got her message 15 minutes ago

 _Lunch?_  -Steve

She bit her lip and smiled, typing her response

 _Yeah! I was just about to head down_  -Flo

She nervously pressed the button to the elevator, why did she never take the stairs? This was a constant thought she had as she continuously pressed the button still anxious for some reason. The elevator came and she quickly went in and pressed the button for the cafeteria. Up, up, up she went. She walked in and the noise in the area was overwhelming and her hearing aids began to ring loudly in her ears, so quickly, Florence turned them down and adjusted them to the proper volume.

She walked over to the table that had Clint, Steve, James, Peter and a new guy at it. She sat down and unpacked her food “You guys aren’t going to introduce me to your friend?” She asked pointing at the handsome black man sitting next to Steve.

Steve opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by “Sam Wilson,” He introduced, “I’m your eyes in the sky.” He gave her a suave smile.

James rolled his eyes “You just fly a helicopter for the police department.” He grumbled.

Florence smirked to herself, someone was jealous. “Florence.” She said smiling “I look at dead people all day.”

Sam grinned a toothy grin and patted Steve on the back “I know Steve won’t shut up about you.”  

Steve covered his face while Clint roared in laughter “Is that so Steve?” she asked giving him a small side glance.

He quickly sputtered out an answer “Well I was telling him about our steak out so he could help.” He mumbled trying not to be overheard by Peter who was talking Bucky’s ear off.

Florence made an O with her mouth “Ohhh” she hummed, “So Pete, how is your internship with Mr. Stark going?” she asked glancing at the young boy who had a surprising amount of food piled in front of him. He was so small she didn’t know where he put the food. She just assumed since he was so young he had a fast metabolism and was fairly active running around for Mr. Stark.

Peter perked up and turned to his new friend “Oh Mr. Stark?” He asked, “It’s going well he’s got me working a lot of long nights in his lab.”

“Lab?” Florence asked curiously.

“Yeah, Mr. Stark is the leading name in clean energy right now.” Peter paused his food shoveling for a minute and gave her a shocked expression.

“On top of being the mayor?”

“Yeah, he does both. He’s been in the news for his new Arc Reactor technology haven’t you seen any of it?”

Florence shifted uncomfortably “I, uh, I don’t really watch TV.” She smiled and decided to poke a little fun at herself “I can’t hear it so why bother you know?” She grinned.

Peter nervously chewed on his lip “Do you,” He started, she could tell he was picking his words carefully “Do you always wear those?” He asked pointing at her hearing aids.

She wasn’t offended at his curiosity and welcomed questions from curious people “Well, I only wear them when I’m out and about for safety reasons. When I’m at home I don’t need them.” She explained. It was simple really, she didn’t need to have the ability to hear while she was at home or even when she was with Clint. He was also fluent in ASL so whenever they hung out she didn’t bother putting them in.

The young boy visibly relaxed when he heard her answer and nodded his head. He was just curious and never meant any harm by it.

“I’ll be right back.” She said after looking through her lunch and noticing her forgot her drink. She quickly got up and walked over to the vending machine and got herself a drink. She looked over her shoulder and noticed all of the guys huddled and vigorously whispering. She shook her head and laughed quietly to herself and walked over.

“Shh!” She heard them mutter unidentifiable words as she sat down at her spot

“What were you talking about?” Florence asked curiously as she cracked her soda opened and felt the carbonation escape onto her skin.

Peter quickly got up and left, he was the worst out of the group at keeping secrets “See you guys later” He quickly said while cleaning his things up and leaving.

Florence glanced at Clint, he had the best poker face “Nothing Flo.” He said and gave her his signature cheeky grin.

Rolling her eyes, she continued to eat her lunch and make small talk among the boys. She learned that much like Steve and James, Sam was a veteran and was a pararescue airman in the Air Force while Steve and James were both in the Army and that was how James lost his arm after an accident. “Well, while it is lovely talking to you boys, I need to get back to work.” She crumpled up her wrapper and threw it in her lunch bag “Those reports aren’t going to write themselves.” She grinned.  

-

The light of her computer dimly light up the area around her, she was slightly flustered that the automatic lights had turned off and had to get up every few hours to make sure they continued to stay light. Sitting in the dark in the medical examiner office was not a hobby of hers. She looked at the pictures and her notes and continued typing away at her computer completely zoned into her screen.

She jumped and turned around when she felt a hand on her shoulder “Jesus, Steve doesn’t sneak up on me like that.” She said and smiled at her friend.

Steve grinned back, the same big goofy grin he always had, “Listen, Florence, are you busy tonight?” He asked curiously. The way he held himself was different, he looked nervous and shifted the weight on his feet frequently like he was nervous.

Florence sighed “I really don’t want to go for another steak out with you goons.” She said referring to Clint and Bucky.

Her new friend scratched at the back of his neck nervously “I- I didn’t really mean it in that way.” He was dancing around his words “It’s Friday did you want to maybe go out for a drink after work?” his face was slightly flushed.

If Florence had been drinking water, she would have choked on it. Steve Rogers? This hunk of a man was asking her to go out for a drink? “Oh, well, I have to finish this autopsy report first then we can go okay?” She asked trying to hide the excitement in her voice. She felt like a schoolgirl. It had been years since she had gone on a date.

Steve didn’t hide his excitement; a grin spread across his face “Okay, great I’ll be in my office waiting then.” He said and left.

Florence continued to type away at her report while trying to work efficiently but also get it done quickly. She tried to focus more on the quality of the assignment because that was what Strang really wanted. She quickly printed off the report and placed it on Strange’s desk before grabbing her things and leaving to meet Steve in his office.

His office was more cluttered than she had previously seen it. There were stacks of papers piled on the floor and various files open on his desk along with pictures. “Got a lot on your mind?” She asked.

Steve shrugged his shoulders while putting his coat on “I’m trying to get to the bottom of this drowning case.” He said huffing to himself. They walked out of the building at he turned to her “Are you okay with walking? It’s only a few blocks from here. Figured we could get there quicker.” He smiled causing the corners of his eyes to wrinkle.

Florence nodded her head “Oh yeah!” She chirped “Of course.” And followed Steve the three blocks to the local bar.

When they arrived, it was not terribly crowded and the music slowly played, however, the hum of the crowd covered up the lyrics and Florence could only feel the beats vibrating against her chest. They went and found two bar stools and sat. Steve got a beet, IPA, and she got an old-fashioned. Together they ordered some bar food, nothing terribly exciting but enough to fill their bellies and keep them occupied.

Quickly, Florence put down one drink, then another, and slowly sipped on her third admiring the warmth the alcohol was spreading through her body. Steve seemed to be completely unaffected by the alcohol he had been drinking. She assumed it was because he was a big boy and mostly muscle so it probably took a while to absorb into his body.

“So, what was the occasion for this?” She asked curiously.

Steve rubbed his hands on his pants nervously “No occasion.” He said nervously.

Florence rested her hand on his bicep “You’re so nervous.” She blurted out, an effect of the alcohol.

Looking down at Florence, Steve’s face flushed and he brought his hands up and he began signing to her. It was hard and choppy “I… like… you.” He said simply.

Blinking rapidly a few times to make sure she wasn’t seeing things “What?” She asked and licked her lips and smiled. He signed it again, this time with more confidence but still choppy. He fumbled over his fingers. She couldn’t stop the stupid grin that spread across her face “Same.” She signed back.

Steve let out a nervous laugh “Clint helped me, he said you would be impressed.”

Florence’s face was flushed from the alcohol and her giddiness “I am, no one has ever done that before.” She said and put her empty drink down on the bar. It was true, none of the past people she dated or was even remotely interested in had gone out of their way to learn anything in sign language.

The remainder of their date was spent with small little touches that felt like lighting striking their bodies and subtle glances left Florence forgetting what she was saying midway through her sentence “We, should probably head back.” Florence said lowly.

Steve nodded his head “I’ll drive you home again.” He offered “I don’t think you should be driving.”

She nodded her head, he was a cop after all and she couldn’t argue with that. They walked back to Steve’s car and he grasped Florence’s small dry hands in his large calloused ones, she admired how well they fit together and how he made her feel safe.

When they arrived, Steve walked her to her door “Do you want to do this again tomorrow?” He asked smiling.

Florence nodded her head “Yeah, I would really like that.” She said.

“4 o’clock for dinner sound good? Or is that too early?”

“No, that’s perfect!”

They stood at her doorstep for a moment, they were close together, she didn’t know when they had closed the distance between them but she didn’t mind. Steve licked his lips and looked from her lips to her face, she knew he was having the same internal debate she was. He leaned his head down and softly pressed his lips against hers. It was timid and sweet, just what she expected from him. They pulled away and were both breathless despite their kiss only lasting a minute and they both shared the same stupid grin. “Good night,” Steve said softly.

“Night Stevie,” She said grinning at his face flushing at his nickname. She let herself in and quickly went to her apartment, but not before she was caught by her neighbor.

“So, who’s the boy?” a voice chimed behind her.

Florence sighed and leaned her head against the coolness of her door and turned “Just a friend Scott.” She said and fumbled with the lock on her door.

Scott Lange was her nosey neighbor, ex-con, electrical engineer, and father to Cassie who she sometimes babysat “I don’t kiss my friends like that, but power to you if you do.” He joked.

“Good night Scott,” Florence called behind her before finally getting the door unlocked, she looked at her phone and immediately messaged Clint

 _Clint, you sly bastard-_ Flo

 _What do you mean? –_ Clint

 _I just got back from my date with Steve-_ Flo

 _:O How did it go? -_ Clint

_You know you’re a pretty good ASL teacher_

_We are going out again tomorrow-_ Flo

She didn’t typically double text, but this was a special occasion.

 _My girl growing up so fast-_ Clint    

Florence got ready for bed and rolled her eyes, she didn’t expect to get much sleep tonight anyway.

-

The next morning when Florence woke up she went down to check her mail as usual and was stopped by Scott once again “Hey Flo?” he asked.

Florence turned on her heel and smiled at Scott “You only say that when you need something, Lange.” She laughed lightly to herself.

He stuffed his hands in his pocket “Can you watch Cassie for me tonight?”

Letting out a puff of air she frowned “I mean, I have a date tonight-“

Scott cut her off “Please, I need to go to work Pym needs me at X-con tonight.” He was practically begging.

Florence ran a hand through her hair in defeat “Fine but only for Cassie.” She added the last part to make herself feel better as she opened the door.

“Thank you! I’ll bring her by at 5!” Scott called after her as the door shut on him.

The rest of the day was spent with Florence trying to avoid talking to Steve at all costs, she didn’t want to break the news to him that she would have to cancel. The lights in her apartment flashed signaling someone was pressing her buzzer.

3:30

“Shit.” She huffed and got up from her spot on the couch and fixed her hair before walking down and seeing Steve casually dressed, he looked nice in a pair of khakis and a grey tee shirt that was only a little too tight.

Steve smiled “Sorry I’m a little ear-“ He trailed off seeing the girl shifting nervously underneath his gaze.

“Steve, I’m really sorry but my neighbor asked me to babysit for him last minute. He’s a single dad and he got called into work. I couldn’t say no I’m so sorry.” She huffed obviously flustered.

“Hey, hey, hey.” He said reassuringly and pulled her into a hug “It’s fine, I love kids I’ll help you. We can order take out and hang out with the kid.” He grinned.

Florence nodded her head and looked up after burying her face in his chest. “Yeah, that would be nice.” She grinned.

Together they decided on a pizza joint that delivered in the area and that Florence lowkey orders from at least once a week.  Steve picked up a movie and showed it to her “Do you think Cassie would like this one?” He asked it was Moana, how adorable.

Florence scrunched her nose “I mean, Cassie is kind of a unique little girl.” She said and laughed lightly to herself, “Her favorite movie is the Gremlins, so that’s what we usually watch.”

Steve flashed her a smile “Gremlins? That movie is terrifying.” He pointed out.

Florence cocked her head to the side “Yeah, but when you meet her you’ll see.”

As if on cue the lights in Florence’s living room flashed and the door opened “Cassie!” Scott called trying to grab his daughter, but she slipped like butter through his hands. “Sorry, Flo,” He said and looked Steve up and down “Hot damn, what the fuck are you a model?” He asked bluntly.

Florence’s face flushed and she stuttered a response “No, I’m a cop.” Steve grinned and crossed his arms over his chest.

Scott instantly shut his mouth, he was well known amongst the NYPD and had a name for himself after the whole Vistacorp burglary “Well, Luis and I are headed to work so I’ll be back late tonight, I hope that’s not an issue.” He said quickly changing the subject.

Nodding her head, Florence grabbed Cassie’s little overnight bag and grinned when she saw the little girl hugging her dad “By daddy!” she chirped.

Scott kissed the top of his daughter’s head “See you later tonight peanut!” He said and gave her one more kiss before leaving. Despite being a convicted criminal Scott was an amazing dad.

Cassie quickly made herself comfortable on the couch with her favorite blanket and stuffed rabbit. Steve picked it up and scrunched his nose seeing the juxtaposing and terrifying face on the seemingly cute and cuddly bunny. He pressed its tummy “You’re my bestest pal!” It exclaimed. He shook his head and had a small smile ghosting his face.

“I’m going to head out and grab the pizza. I’ll be back.” Steve said checking the time on his phone and noticing their 45-minute estimated wait was almost over. He quickly grabbed his keys and left to pick up the food.

Cassie watched intently as Steve left the apartment, she turned and looked at Florence with a knowing smile, for 9 years old she wasn’t stupid “I think he likes you.” She smiled, showing her missing front tooth.

Florence grinned down at the little girl before putting Gremlins in “And where did that tooth go missy?” She asked poking the little girl’s nose. Before Florence knew it, Cassie was telling her an extravagant story about how her dad thought it was a brilliant idea to tie her loose tooth to a NERF gun and shoot it out.

“It was so cool!” she exclaimed waving her little arms.

The previews ended and they sat watching the menu for a few minutes before Steve showed up with breadstick and two boxes of pizza in hand. Cassie’s face lit up like Christmas as he laid them out on the kitchen table and the smell of fresh pizza wafted through the air.  Florence grabbed a few paper plates and dished herself and Cassie some pieces of Pizza, the little girl ate like a bottomless pit.

Cassie sat comfortably nestled in between Steve and Florence as the movie played. She loved this movie, the gremlins were so ugly she loved them “Do you ladies need anything to drink?” Steve asked getting up.

Florence waved her arms “Oh no you don’t have to do that I can get it myself!” She said standing and going into her kitchen.      

Cassie looked over at Steve “Do you like Flo?” She asked innocently.

Steve cleared his throat and set his plate down “Yeah I do, I like her a lot.” He said watching Florence rummaging through the refrigerator for drinks for her and Cassie.

She smiled showing Steve her toothless grin as she leaned into the crook of his arm, she didn’t typically warm up to other men. But if Florence liked Steve she did too. Florence was really the only positive female figure Cassie had in her life right now. Her mother remarried a police officer that worked on her father’s case and life with them was less than ideal. Living with them for the 3 years her father was in prison and the 2 years it took for her father to get back on his feet was hard to her. But Scott fought tooth and nail for full custody of Cassie and won much to her mother’s surprise.

The night dragged on and before they knew it Cassie was passed out on Florence’s couch dressed in her Star Wars pajamas all tuckered out from playing with Steve and Florence and eating enough Pizza to feed a football team.

“I’m surprised Cassie warmed up to you so quickly,” Florence said smiling at the little girls sleeping form.

Steve looked over at Florence “Whys that?” He asked

“Her stepdad is a cop in San Francisco. He’s kind of a prick. Scott takes care of Cass and works full time for a security company. He’s still working on getting back on his feet but he’s miles from where he started when he got out of San Quinten.”

Steve listened intently and nodded his head “She’s a smart girl.”  He pointed out, “Lucky to have such a strong woman to look up to.” He said wrapping his arms around Florence’s waist and kissing her cheek.

Florence’s face flushed and she looked down “Thank you,” She said softly, “If you wanted to, you could stay the night. It’s kind of late and Scott isn’t coming until around 1 am to get her so I’ll be up until then.” Her face turned even redder when she realized what she said could have been misinterpreted “I- I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry.” She put her head in her hands to hide her blushing face.

Steve laughed “No, no, I didn’t take it like that.” He said letting go of her waist and smiling down at her “I’ll stay and make sure you don’t fall asleep. Then when Cassie leaves I’ll sleep on the couch, sound good?”

Florence nodded her head and went back over to her movie shelf, “What do you want to watch to kill time?” She asked. Steve looked over her movie collection, he didn’t know why because he knew the exact movie he was going to pick out. He handed her a Star Wars movie “Classic.” She commented on his movie choice. Before pressing play, Florence moved Cassie so that they were both able to sit on one side of the couch and turned the volume down as to not wake her.

Before she knew it, she was being woken up by Steve shaking her shoulder lightly “Someone is knocking at the door.” He said his voice raspy from sleep.

Florence’s eyes fluttered open and she waited for them to adjust to the dim lighting in her living room. She looked over and saw Cassie still asleep on the other side of the couch and that she had fallen asleep on Steve’s chest. “Shit, thank you.” She said standing and wobbling on her legs while trying to wake up and walk to the door.

She answered it and saw Scott, chipper as ever waiting to pick his daughter up “I hope she wasn’t too much trouble.” He whispered while walking in. Florence’s apartment was a little messy, coloring pages were on the floor and pizza boxes were stacked up from their dinner. “Looks like you tuckered her out.” He smiled and picked up Cassie and grabbed her things from Florence’s hand and bid them goodnight.

Steve stretched out his arms and let out a soft groan before sprawling out on the couch “Hey Steve?” Florence croaked.

He arched his brow and opened his sleepy eyes “Yeah?” He asked still groggy from being woken up by Scott.

“If you want,” She chewed on her lip trying to think of a way to phrase her words “You can sleep in my room. It’s not going to be weird and we’re both pretty tired. I’d hate to leave you on the couch.” She commented on how his large frame laid awkwardly on the couch that was too small for him.

Steve wasn’t going to protest to a comfortable bed to lay in instead of the tiny couch “Sure, that’d be nice.” He said and followed Florence into her bedroom. He stripped down to just his tee shirt and boxers and Florence dressed in a tank top and sleep shorts and they crawled into her bed together. She gasped when she felt Steve pull her tightly into his chest, but immediately relaxed feeling safe in his firm arms.

The next morning Steve was jolted awake, literally, the bed was vibrating. He looked around and nudged Florence who was sound asleep next to him “Florence, hey, your bed is shaking.”

Florence bolted awake at the feeling of her bed and immediately remember Steve was next to her “Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” She said still groggy from sleep, not registering what Steve was saying, and fumbling with her alarm and fumbling to put at least one of her hearing aids in. “I have a bed shaker to wake me up.” She looked down embarrassed at the nontraditional methods she needed to use to wake up.

Steve grabbed her hands to steady them “You’re fine, don’t apologize. It just scared me.” He said and looked down at Florence, her eyes were droopy with sleep and her voice was hoarse from lack of usage. He could get used to waking up next to her more often.

Florence couldn’t help but smile at Steve’s usually well-kept hair askew and the way his shirt rode up from sleeping allowing his well-toned body to peek through. She slowly turned to grab her second hearing aid when Steve grabbed her again and pulled her close kissing her hard. She gasped allowing his tongue to slip in and taste her.

Florence reached up and wrapped one arm around Steve’s waist and the other around his neck and pulled him close as they furiously kissed. When they broke away Steve rested his forehead on hers; they both huffed, out of breath from their actions. “You’re so beautiful.” He said and ghost his lips against hers. He leaned back pulling her with him against his chest and kissed the top of her head “Come on, let’s go back to sleep.” Steve would have been lying if he said he didn’t want to kiss her more, but Florence’s alarm also went off at 6 AM and they were both exhausted so neither was going to argue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I hope you all are enjoying the series. I updated this SUPER early I was just feeling v inspired SO here it is, I hope you all enjoy it because I LOVE WRITING THE AU CHARACTERS it’s so much fun. 
> 
> Warnings: Mentions of gore and death, slow burn, Cop!AU. fluff, sexual tension, FLUFF, alcohol, pinning, small tiny, tiny bit of smut but not really.
> 
> Word count: 4456


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow sorry I am such garbage and haven’t updated in SO LONG. I had really terrible writers’ block for this story and I had no idea where to go with it. But I had a sudden inspiration! I hope you like the cameo of characters I have in right now, they will be major players in the coming chapters. Not much happens, but I promise I am planting seeds for the future chapters, this one is really long and I’m sorry; it took me 3 days to write this and I wanted to include a lot of stuff in it but not break it into different chapters because I was too lazy and it all kept coming out. I am on a roll right now so hopefully, a new chapter will be up soon!

https://asphalt-cocktail.tumblr.com/post/181639073354/mortui-vivos-docent-part-4

The flickering of the disgustingly bright fluorescent lights caused Florence’s eyes to ache. She had been going over her pathology report for the last two hours trying to find out what had caused her patients stomach to blister from the inside out. She groaned before an uncharacteristic flicker caused her to jump and turn around. It was Dr. Strange, “Yes sir?” She asked.

“We have a field assignment.” He said holding her jacket out.

Florence quickly scrambled to her feet and gathered the supply bag and grabbed her jacket, putting it on as they left the basement, the van police scanner read back the conditions of the body and Florence struggled to make out words, she scrunched her nose in frustration “The details are always better at the scene.” Dr. Strange said noticing her frustration.

Florence nodded her head “Yeah, you’re right.”

Soon after they arrived at the scene, it was in the poorer part of town where gang violence was common, they were greeted with flashing lights from the fire department, police crew, and ambulance. A kid, probably 16 or 17 was screaming as he was strapped into a stretcher “I didn’t do it! I promise.” He said, his face was caked in blood and he was obviously in shock.

“Sir, I’m going to need you to calm down.” The paramedic said while he was lifted into the back of the ambulance.

Florence averted her eyes to not be rude and focused her attention on the officer that was taking notes and gathering evidence.

“What have we got?” She asked walking up to James

“We have an apparent teenage female and male both have received multiple injuries,” James said grimly.

“I need you to be more specific, what do you mean multiple injuries,” Florence asked and looked over his shoulder, she wasn’t able to see the bodies yet, but there were horrific amounts of blood splattered on the ground.

James let out a sigh, not one out of irritation, but more out of remorse “We can’t tell.” He said softly and turned to take her to the bodies.

When Florence saw them, she understood, they had been so battered it was hard to even make out their faces. Dr. Strange caught up to her and let out the same sigh Bucky did. They each knelt down at separate bodies “Any ID on either?” Strange asked.

“No, no IDs. The kid that is alive is being transported to the hospital and is being treated for defensive wounds and a slew of other things.” James responded.

Florence looked at the girl in front of her and shook her head and decided to do a temperature reading “These are really fresh, like within two hours the body has only gone down to 34 .5 Celsius.” Florence looked at her watch and back over to James “When was the first 911 call placed?” She asked.

James flipped through his little note pad and then looked at his watch “Around 15 minutes ago. It took us around 3 minutes to arrive and now here we are.” He said.

Nodding her head Florence looked at Dr. Strange “The average body loses 1.5 degrees every hour and she has lost 3 degrees. They’ve been dead for 2 hours and the first call came in 15 minutes ago and its broad daylight?” Florence asked.

Dr. Strange stood up and wrote on his field report “It’s not our job to find out why people took so long to call authorities,” he said curtly “TOD is at 12:17 PM for the male. He died before the female did.”

Florence scrunched her nose up, an hour before the female did? What the hell did this person do? Make them watch? She shook her head, Dr. Strange was right, it wasn’t their job to figure out the logistics behind the murder, only the cause of death. “Time of death for the teenage female is 1:30 PM. We’ll transport them to lab and get a better look at them there.” Florence said before stuffing her field notes into her bag.

This had been the first time Florence had ever been called to a trial. She nervously stood in the bathroom and ran her fingers through her hair and tugged at her blazer, she walked out and was greeted by Steve. They had been seeing each other, nothing too major, just going out for a few drinks after work here and there and occasionally spending the night just to sleep. It was… wholesome. And that was what Florence needed right now, “Come on, Flo, you look great.” Steve said smiling beneath his scruff.

Florence shrugged her shoulders “I haven’t been put on trial before. What am I supposed to even do?” She asked sighing.

Steve gave her a comforting squeeze on the shoulder “Just be honest and deliver the facts.” He said and pulled her into a quick side hug. Fraternization while in the work place was a no go for Steve, so the sudden affection was welcomed and helped ease her nerves.

Despite her hearing aids, Florence was still given an interpreter which was nice given the amount of people she would have to pay attention to. Talking in loud crows was not one of her favorite things, it was hard to listen to more than one person at a time and often overwhelmed her.

“The prosecution would like to call Dr. Florence Solomon to the stand.” A man dressed in a well tailored suit called her up.

Nervously she stood up and walked through the little gate and into the stand, she went through the procedures before the cross examination began. “Now, Dr. Solomon, would you please give a brief description of what you found in our two victims. Start with the female.” He asked standing in front of her.

Florence watched her interpreter and nodded her head “Right, well we arrived at the scene and found the 16-year-old victim, Dana Suarez in the grass behind the house, internal temperature of her body suggested that she died around an hour after the second victim.”

The prosecuting lawyer clicked on a little remote in his hand and pictures of the autopsy showed the mangled grey corpse of the girl, “Would you mind explaining pre and post mortem wounds, as well as the cause of death.”

Florence nodded her head and swallowed thickly, she was nervous, “So we counted 14 stab wounds throughout the victim’s torso, face, neck, and arms 6 of these were done before death and the other 8 were done after death and the wounds on Ms. Suarez’s hands were defensive in nature. The victim also had scratches along her face and neck that measured at 5.23 centimeters, 5.17 centimeters, and 7.68 centimeters in length. The cause of death was a combination of profuse bleeding and severing of the jugular vein.” She let out a long shaky breath.

“Is there any other evidence that you found on our first victim that we have not covered Dr. Solomon?”

“Yes, Ms. Suarez was found with skin and blood beneath her fingernails that indicated a struggle and that she fought whoever had attacked her. The DNA matched that of the defendant’s and there were also trace amounts of marijuana and cocaine in her system.”

“Now what about our second male victim?”

“The second victim’s name is 17-year-old Shaun Jackson. He was found at the same location as Ms. Suarez, however his time of death was an hour before at 12:17 PM. He received 17 stab wounds, also along his face, neck, torso, and arms 7 were before death and 10 were post mortem. The cause of death was asphyxiation from the collapsing of the left lung. He was also found with defensive stab wounds on his hands and had trace amounts of cocaine and marijuana in his system before death.” Florence glanced past the Prosecutor and looked at Steve for reassurance, he gave her a smile and nodded, she let out a sigh of relief.

The prosecutor turned to address the jury “Now as you can see from the images and description given to us by Dr. Solomon, these two victims are two children who ended up getting mixed up with the wrong crowd of people, it caused them to spiral down a path of drug abuse. However, their mistakes with the law do not excuse the fact that Mr. Andre Marshall had to continuously stab them until their faces remained disfigured and their poor families now need to have closed casket funerals-”

“Objection your honor, the prosecution is waving the bloody shirt,” the defendant said abruptly standing up.

The judge hit the gavel “The jury with disregard the previous statement given by Attorney Jacobs, and Attorney Jacobs, please keep to the facts.” She said gruffly.

“Yes, your honor.” The prosecutor said nodding his head respectfully, “Ms. Suarez had defensive wounds with the defendant’s DNA in them, as well as the murder weapon and house covered in his finger prints. These two teenagers simple were mixed in with the wrong crowd of people, but they should not be overlooked due to their past addictions. I ask you to please bring justice to Shaun and Dana and their families. That is all your honor.”

“The defense may now cross examine the witness.” The judge stated.

Florence sighed, she still couldn’t get up just yet.

There were two defense attorneys, odd, she thought.  The first one stood up, he had dark hair, scruff and appeared to be blind. “Dr. Solomon, tell me about yourself.”

Florence shifted in her seat “Well, I graduated from New York University- Langone and I have been working for the NYPD for the 7 months now, I have also been practicing for 7 months.” She stated.

The defense nodded his head and hummed “I see.” He said “Now, I don’t want you to have to go over and repeat all of the information you told the prosecution and cause the families sand jury to relive that trauma again. But, I do want to ask you in your expert opinion what build do you think one would have to be in order to cause such massive overkill?” He said now stopped right in front of her seated area.

Florence nodded her head “Well, I would expect someone well over 6 feet, that is consistent with the angle of the stab wounds coming in at a downward angle verses an upward or perpendicular angle with where their locations were. In order to be able to subdue two teenagers who were healthy despite their drug use would need a massive amount of strength.” In her honest opinion, she didn’t think the scrawny, terrified 17-year-old boy sitting in front of her could possibly be capable of killing two people with that much rage even if he was given all of the drugs in the world.

“And can you also inform us of what the effects of mixing cocaine and marijuana are?” he asked.

Florence thought for a moment “Cocaine is an upper, while marijuana is a depressant, your body is working against you it causes heart racing, paranoia, your blood pressure to rise, maybe even a little bit of hallucinating depending on how intense your paranoia is and ultimately it can cause death.”

“Now, I am not saying that they both died of heart attacks or a dangerous cocktail of drugs, because we know those are not the facts. But what we do now is that my client previous stated that Ms. Suarez began to act erratically and lash out, when my client tried to restrain her they ended in a small scuffle that caused the scratches to be on Ms. Suarez, and the DNA of Mr. Marshall to be found under her nails. My client Mr. Marshall is 17-years-old is 5’7” and weighs 125 pounds so there is no way he would have never been able to subdue Ms. Suarez and Mr. Jackson. The accredited medical profession who is sitting here stated it as plain as day that a man of much significant size would have had to be present and commit the crimes. We lost the lives of two kids who barely had enough time to live their lives, and I beg you to see the facts and not allow another’s to be thrown into the American Prison system and wrongfully accused.”

Finally. Someone who saw some sense in the case. She knew there had to have been one more person in that room with them, the poor kid is probably terrified the same will happen to him if he rats.

“Dr. Solomon, you may be seated.” The judge said. A security officer escorted her back to her seat next to Steve and James, “We will have recess until the jury has reached a verdict.”

Florence leaned back and cracked her back against the stiff wooden seat “You did great up there!” Steve grinned.

Florence looked at her feet and stood up, sighing “I felt like if I said anything wrong, I could have changed the whole outcome of the case.” She said and ran a hand through her hair.

“First time at a trial?” A voice asked behind her. Steve tapped her shoulder and pointed at the two defense attorneys.

“Was it that obvious?” She asked laughing lightly

“Honestly, no, you held yourself very well up there. Foggy Nelson and my partner Matt Murdock.” He said offering a hand out.

“Ah well you already knew me.” She said gripping his hand.

Steve let out a curt head nod, defense attorneys and police officers didn’t typically get along, however they remained civil.

Matt smiled politely and nodded his head “So Foggy told me you had an interpreter up there. It is honestly refreshing to see someone successful that also has a disability. Sometimes it gets overwhelming having people who don’t understand or undermine you.”

His bluntness was surprising, but refreshing Florence liked it and agreed with him “Yeah, it definitely is.” She responded.

“So, Mr. Rogers? Is it?” Matt asked.

“Captain Rogers.” He corrected.

“Right. Captain Rogers, I heard it through the grape vine that one of the cases has been handed over to the PD?” He inquired.

Steve’s eyes widened “Are you crazy? Keep it down, that case is supposed to be low profile now. Can’t talk about it.”

Matt nodded his head “Right…” He said in a drawn-out fashion that proved he didn’t believe a thing Steve had just said, we aren’t picking up the case, but if you would like to stop by our office later tomorrow we would be glad to discuss a few things with you and Dr. Solomon.” Foggy held out a simple business card and Steve accepted it.

“Thank you, we’ll be in touch.” He said and began to return to his seat.

“All rise, the Court of New York City, Honorable Judge Wilson is now presiding.” The bailiff said.

The judge entered and sat at her seat and hit the gavel “You may be seated.”

Florence hadn’t noticed, but roughly an hour of deliberating had passed. “Has the jury reached a verdict?” The judge asked once all of the members filed into the room and were seated.

The juror at the very end stood up and held out a piece of paper “We find the defendant Andre Marshall, not guilty.” She said nervously.

Florence let out a puff of air as the Marshall family wept tears of joy and the Suarez and Jackson family wept tears of anguish. James and Steve shook their heads, the case was still open, which means that the search was still on for the man who did this.

Later the next day after much paperwork Florence, Steve, James, and Clint went down to Hell’s Kitchen to visit Nelson and Murdock. It was a small office in a small shabby building “Andre, please if you have any other information, the police will keep you safe from whoever did this.” The voices could be heard pleading from the other side of the glass door.

The kid responded in a muffled voice before they said their goodbyes and left awkwardly out the door “Oh, hey, we weren’t expecting you this early.” Foggy said running a hand through his long hair “Please, come in.” He said opening the door wider.

The office was almost bare, you could tell they were still a budding practice, “So, tell us what you know about the case.” Steve said bluntly

“Wow, you like to skip around pleasantries.” Foggy said and held out a pot of coffee and offered it. Clint and Florence both took a cup.

“Well we know it has an impressive list of suspects.” Matt said leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms over his chest. “Rumlow, Pierce, Stern”

Steve narrowed his eyes and looked at Matt and Foggy “How do you two know that?”

Foggy shrugged his shoulders “Being a defense lawyer has its perks.”

Clint liked how these two worked, they knew a lot and he knew that they weren’t telling them this for no reason. “Why are you telling us this, what else do you know?” He asked.

“Well, we want to know what you know.” Matt said smiling lightly.

“So, you invited us to compare notes?” James asked frowning.

Matt shrugged his shoulders, “I mean yeah, why not, we both want to take them down. There is no way in hell we are representing their case.”

Steve let out a sigh “Tell them about the autopsy, Flo.”

Florence nodded her head, she had brought pictures of the file with her. She didn’t want to take the whole file, it was way too risky “I have pictures of the report I typed up, I took them before I gave it to Director Fury, just be warned there are pictures of the body I had to examine in it.” she said sliding her smart phone across the table.

Foggy picked it up and grimaced at the images “What is it?” Matt asked noticing a shift in his friend’s demeanor.

“Well, it’s a badly decomposed body, ah, that’s about all I can stomach looking at right now.” He said sliding it back.

“The bruising around the victim’s neck happened before death and was a little bigger than the length of the average human hand, when I opened the neck there were hairline fractures in the vertebra around the neck. This means he was held underwater and struggled immensely against someone who was significantly stronger than he was and wanted him to stay under until he was dead.” Florence explained swiping through the pictures to refresh her memories. “We couldn’t get the time of death, it’s incredibly hard to tell when they are decomposing in water. But judging by the waxy and flaky skin that was literally sliding off the victim I would say he’s been in there more than a month.”

Matt scrunched his nose up and frowned “Anything else?” He asked.

Florence elbowed Steve and urged him to continue “We did a steak out at their place and noticed that Stern lives near the Hudson river and he and Rumlow had a meeting when we were watching them. So we sent someone to bug their phones.”

Foggy grinned “Shit you bugged their phones? Is that even legal?” he asked.

James had crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged his shoulders “I mean, what they are doing isn’t very legal either…” He said trailing off.

“So, now what do you know?” Clint asked.

“Well, all we have right now is lawyer gossip.” Foggy started “Rumlow is their pawn, he’s weak and they can afford to lose him that’s why they have him. We don’t know if any other of the officers are in on it, but they already have a lawyer for representation, his name is Parish Landman; he is a pretty high-profile lawyer.”

James smirked “Why didn’t they ask you to do it?” He asked smugly.

Matt frowned “They did ask us… But we don’t represent people who we know for a fact are guilty.” He said curtly.

Florence nodded her head, that was admirable of them. “After I conducted the autopsy, Mayor Stark came in and gave the whole case to the FBI.” She said frowning lightly,

“Damn,” Foggy said “That really puts us in a rut. Especially since we can’t do much with it in the FBI’s hands.”

“We have been talking with Stark’s intern Peter to keep up to date on the case but so far even he hasn’t had anything.” Steve added

“Parker?” Matt asked, “He’s a good kid, we run into him around City Hall whenever we make our way down there.”

Florence looked at Steve “What if we didn’t use him for information on the case? He works in the same area as the Senator, this is a whole new idea and way to look at the case!” She said getting excited and pulling her phone out, she started a facetime with Peter, he answered surprisingly quick.

“Hey Doctor Flo!” Peter said waving at the camera.

“Hey Peter! Do you have a minute to talk? I have a favor to ask.” She said smiling.

Peter looked around and bit his lip “Let me put my head phones in quick.”

“Ask him about the thing.” James said nudging Florence.

Florence shrugged James off and shushed him, “Sounds like there are a lot of people there, Doc, who’s all there?” He asked curiously.

“Ah, the usual Clint, James, Steve, there are some new people too-” she said before Foggy snatched the phone from her.

“Hey Pete!” Foggy said grinning, he looked over at Matt “Peter is waving at us right now and smiling.”

Matt smiled and gave the camera a curt nod “Peter.” He said

“Oh, hey Foggy! Hey Matt! Wow Dr. Solomon I didn’t know you knew Foggy and Matt that’s so cool.” He said through the phone screen.

Florence took her phone back and looked at Peter “Okay so you remember that case?” she asked. Peter nodded nervously “Do you have access to Senator Stern’s information?” She danced around her words hesitant to say them.

Peter swallowed thickly “I mean… Personally no, but I’m sure I can see Ned and Shuri and talk with them about it.”  He said trying to be as vague as possible.

“Thanks Peter! I really appreciate it!” She said grinning and waving at him as she ended the call.

They gathered their things and Florence walked to Steve’s car while the rest of the group parted ways. Florence leaned back in her seat and ran her fingers through her hair “Steve what the hell are we going to do? We can get in so much trouble doing this.” She said and covered her eyes.

Steve reached over and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, “Flo, it’ll be okay I promise.” He said in a comforting voice.

Florence looked up with a deep frown on her face “Steve, I wasn’t made to do police field work, I was made to stay in the dark depth of the police station and look at dead bodies and give families closure.” She clenched her eyes shut “I have to give the family of whoever that man was closure, someone is out there not knowing what happened to their loved one and Tony Stark isn’t letting us do that!” She said getting more flustered.

Steve pulled her tightly against his chest, she tried to pull away, still flustered, but melted into his arms like butter. Her breathing calmed “Florence you are an amazing Medical Examiner and you are a crucial part of every police investigation, Tony Stark took the case from us, but you were still able to do as much as you could to help the family. It’s up to the FBI examiner now.” He said and kissed the top of her forehead warmly.

Florence huffed against Steve’s chest, her voice was muffled in his arms “I know,” She said softly “Peter is going to help, and so is everyone else.”

—

The next morning at work she was greeted with an unfamiliar face “Hello,” She said hanging her coat on the rack “You’re not Dr. Strange.” She joked

“No, I’m Doctor Reed Richards, I work with the FBI and do their autopsies.” He said looking through the file he had in his hands. He was a tall man with brown hair that was streaked with flecks of gray and his forehead was wrinkled with worry lines.

“Nice to meet you Dr. Richards. I’m Doctor Florence Solomon.” She said trying to hold back her frown.

So, this was the dick that would be taking all of the credit on here report.

Stephen walked out from his private office and felt the tension in the air while Dr. Richards seemed oblivious to it “Dr. Solomon, I see you’ve met Dr. Richards.” He said curtly “Mayor Stark has given him full reign of our lab to conduct further investigation on the drowning case.” He informed.

Florence arched her eyebrows “Wonderful, happy to have you. Please let us know if you have any questions.” She said busying herself with work, she made sure to stay in range in case she picked anything up that she could tell Steve and Clint later on.


End file.
